Victoria devoted her next weekend morning to Connery.

The old fellow never complained, but you could tell when he was feeling a bit neglected.

Their games lasted until almost noon…

When she was called inside unstick Bonehilda’s arm from the trash compactor.

It was rough being the only one in the house with any idea how stuff worked.

Then she sat down to check her email.

“Gamora! I know you did this!”

Dance was on hiatus, and Winston was getting more and more obsessed with flexibility. He started spending a lot of his off time at the gym.

He was taking a yoga class that was opening all sorts of new range of motion.

“I have GOT to find a way to use this stuff in a performance,” he decided.

It was just a matter of HOW.

“Edmund, you let your dragon sleep on the floor again,” Andria said sternly. “Come get him before he sets fire to the hardwood.” She paused and chuckled. “Not something I ever expected to say.”

“Don’t worry, Mother,” Edmund said. “I’ll take care of her.”

He called her name, and the dragon hatching leapt from the floor to alight gracefully on his arm.

Sawyer was up in the early morning. He usually strolled into work after 10AM these days, but today he was required to do a yearly wellness clinic.

He hated dealing with the riffraff of the town and their piddling little problems. He was supposed to be take apart brains and putting them back together. But the outreach was a hospital program he was required to participate in.

There was already a long line by the time he made it to the park. At least there was a warm cozy place inside to conduct his clinic.

He administered vaccines.

And antibiotics.

And hypnotized patients out of bad habits. Or something.

“Hey,” Jasper Crumplebottom said. “Can I trust you to be discreet?”

“If it helps, I have no interest in your personal life whatsoever,” Sawyer replied.

“My girlfriend and I really want to have a child, and she can’t, so can you hook me up with whatever it takes for me to get pregnant?”

“Let me take a look,” Sawyer said.

“Hmm. I can’t cure your maleness, but I can start you on male pregnancy hormones.”

“Thanks so much!” Jasper exclaimed. “I won’t forget this!”

“Don’t worry,” Sawyer said. “I can forget it for both of us.”

Sam Pistachio also showed up at the clinic.

She was really concerned about her toddler daughter’s cold, but Sawyer was more concerned about her.

“Being a single mom late in life tends to dull the brain,” he said. “Let me check your reflexes.”

“Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“Your reflexes seem to be within normal parameters,” Sawyer said. “False alarm. Carry on.”

“Actually,” Sam said, “that was kind of hot. Do you take new patient?”

“Call my secretary.”

Dylan and Andria had always been self-employed, but these days they weren’t terribly worried about their careers and didn’t mind taking time off to have fun.

While Sawyer was treating patients, they were at a Simfest in the park — possibly the worst-organized Simfest they’d ever attended.

“Didn’t this guy just go on?” Andria hissed. “Boo!”

“I think he set the same arm on fire the last time.”

Afterward, Andria took Dylan to Monmouth Archives.

“I take it you have something in mind other than checking out books,” Dylan said, trying to hide his confusion.

“Of course I do,” Andria agreed. “This is something I should have done a long time ago. You go on ahead. I need to change.”

“You’re — oh, I see,” Dylan said.

“There it is!”

“Come with me, my love,” she said. “Don’t worry. They don’t bite.”

Dylan took a deep breath and followed her.

“Why have you called us here?” the spokesman for the Fae Council boomed.

“I think it’s time I presented to you Dylan Sample, my husband.”

“You brought him here? The human who drew you out of hiding?”

“I didn’t draw out anyone,” Dylan said. “Andria came out of hiding on her own.”

Andria squeezed his hand. “He was just himself, and so was I. And it worked out fine. That’s the point I’ve been trying to make.”

 

And at last it came… Victoria’s last day of school.

The afternoon was filled with a huge award ceremony for her class, where she received honors for her grades and for her work in shop club.

“Wow. I think that was the most boring ceremony our school has ever thrown,” Winston said. “At least I caught up on my sleep.”

Andria nudged Victoria as they left. “It looks like Gamora might have taken an interest in your prom date,” she said quietly.

Victoria grinned. “That’s great, Mom. Better her than me.”

It was hard to believe it. School was out for the term, and she would never have to go back. Her birthday was almost here.

———-

I did it!! With no time to spare! (Actually, I wrote the last two posts in one day and scheduled this one to post the next day.)

Gamora did her homework with Kain McWilliams autonomously here, and she’s rolled a wish to ask for his Sign. I don’t think they have any heart-farts for each other, though.

There was no particular plot reason to include pics of Winston doing yoga. I’ve just had that piece of CC for ages, and Winston seems like he’d enjoy it.

I feel like I really neglected the thread of the fae in hiding and Dylan feeling left out of this part of his family. After his tired during Andria’s midlife crisis, I figured she’d want to get him more involved, but I didn’t manage to actually DO it until they were both Elders. Ah, well.

Dylan and Andria have been released to autonomy most of the time, since they’ve completed all their game goals. They spend most of their time romancing each other in weird places. So you have that to look forward to in the next generation 😉

Also, the Ambitions Medical career clinics are the best thing EVAR.